The Fourth World
by Kami no Kage
Summary: He was so close. So many things had gone wrong, ever since that day. His apology to his sister, which was never given. His friends, no longer there. Asuna, his dear Asuna. He didn't know if he would ever get the chance to save her now. Another death game. Kirito had found himself in another death game. "This world isn't real!" "Asuna!"


The Fourth World

**AN: Bet you're surprised to see me again. Especially in a new story instead of He Who Protects the Living. What can I say; I was unable to write for it for so long that I kinda lost the will. So, I present my new short story, to get me back into the groove of writing.**

**New comers, I have another story, which is my main one. Check it out, while ignoring the pretty bad first chapter. I promise, every other chapter is at least twice as good as chapter 1. I'll rewrite it someday.**

**This will probably go on to the end of the first season of the Anime. I won't draw from the Light Novels much, if at all. Depending on response, I will go back and do a sequel maybe during summer. I kinda doubt it will though, Hill of Swords was pretty much the pinnacle for this kind of story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Zero no Tsukaima, SAO, or any other work that I may or may not reference or write about in this story.**

Chapter 1: The Pain of Failure

Smoke covered the area, and a small amount of people could be seen coughing and covering their faces. Some were on the ground, as if something had knocked them off their feet. As one took around the surroundings, they could take in the clear blue skies, the softly running wind, which was even then clearing the smoke away. A juxtaposition of ruin and beauty.

There was a large and wondrous building there, the entire thing a pentagonal shape in a foreign style of architecture. The next thing one might notice would be the beautiful green grass, blackened in a small circle where the smoke was almost clear, showing the outline of what seemed to be a person, on one knee.

It was a place that radiated majesty by its very presence, that could stun people by just being near it. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, there where no signs of any kind of pollution, or any large or small city. It was a place that seemed to coexist with nature, in a way that the planet may have seemed to be hundreds of years ago.

It was there, that laughter could be heard, as the smoke finally cleared. A multitude of people could be seen, of many shapes and sizes. It was surprising the many hair colors that could be found, from shining red to dark black, from light blue to even pink.

There was one girl in particular, that laughed mockingly at a much smaller one. She possessed crimson red hair, and dark skin. The most noticeable feature however, was her large chest, stretching out her shirt so far she had to undo some of the buttons, leaving much cleavage to be appreciated.

"Well Louise, another explosion I see. We shouldn't really be surprised now should we?" She asked, revealing a small pink haired girl, who looked to be in her pre teen years, to be named Louise. The small girl practically fumed, her face turning an ugly shade of red as a small sound escaped from her lips.

"It's just what one could be expected from the Zero!" Agreed another girl, with highly curly blonde hair. She had some freckles on her face, with a red ribbon tying her hair behind her head.

"Professor Colbert! Montmorency the Runny Nose just insulted me!" Louise complained to the oldest looking person in the clearing, a man who was bald, dressed in some manner of uniform, blue, carrying a large staff, that almost looked like it might belong in some role playing game.

"Why I never!" Proclaimed the blonde girl, Montmorency. The instructor sighed. "Please refrain from calling your classmates names Miss Valliere. Now, there is something else you should be doing rather than fighting right now, don't you think?"

Louise stared at him confusedly for a moment, before remembering what they were there for. It was the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual, and it was her turn. She had been the last to go, hoping for the best. When she had attempted the ritual however, she had gotten an explosion, as she always did. It was frustrating, hearing all the people talking about her badly.

She turned, highly excited, to see what manner of familiar she had summoned. The previously ignored figure seemed to snap out of some kind of trance, as she turned her attentions to him, only to see her face fall. It was then that everyone else there took notice of him as well.

A shout of "Louise summoned a commoner!" rang out the area, and much derisive laughter followed. Louise felt shame fall on her face as she took in the unimpressive form of the familiar she had summoned. He was a boy, about their age, dressed in some rags that she knew had to belong to some commoner.

"Professor!" She pleaded. "Please, let me try again!" More laughter rang out as Louise tried to get the Professor to let her try again. How was she supposed to prove that she was a powerful mage when she summoned a commoner as a familiar? She might bring shame upon her name as Valliere!

The man sighed. "You know that is not allowed Louise. The ritual is a sacred thing, it would be going against the Founder if I let you go again. Perform the binding ritual." The man managed to sound stern and apologetic at the same time.

Louise felt her face burn with the shame as she approached her new familiar, not noticing the slight look of horror on his face. The mocking laughter followed her as she went to change her destiny and fate, along with that of another person.

-The Line Breaks Are Back-

A boy looked on in horror as he took in his surroundings. _'How can this be? This should be impossible. It is impossible. This isn't what I wanted to do. I have to...What is this?'_ The boy could not understand how it was possible for him to be in this place.

He knelt to one knee, feeling disoriented. He made grabbing motions with his hand at thin air, which may have caused him to be ridiculed if anyone there had bothered to take note of his presence. He checked his back, his hand closing at something that was not there. His entire being felt numb as he realized he could not access any kind of menu, and he had no weapons.

Actually, as he looked down, he could tell he was wearing the same clothing he had been right before he had gone to grab his Nerve Gear. The Nerve Gear was a wondrous device that allowed a person to experience virtual reality video games. To many, it had been a new life, until _that_ incident had occurred.

He couldn't really remember much. He was sure that he had grabbed his Nerve Gear, it was something he had absolutely needed to do. He had to meet with his sister, he had to save that person.

Now though...He was trapped. Sugou had somehow trapped him. He was sure it had been him, there was no other man who could have, or really would have wanted or needed to do this. He was trapped, in another game, with no access to any menu or weapons.

He supposed that Sugou had a flair for theatrics if he had placed him in a death game rather than try to kill him in the real world. It was a little cowardly maybe, but he somehow felt that he should have expected something like this. Wasn't the reason that the Nerve Gear was replaced with the second generation because of the lack of security? After _that_ man had done _that_?

Even knowing that, he had kept on using it. He felt a bit of shame. He should have gotten the second generation of Nerve Gear after all. It was after the end of _that_ incident that he had learned that there was a second generation with better security, he should have gotten it, should have expected someone to try something like this.

As he took a look around, he marveled at the detail. The system didn't focus when he looked particularly close at anything, the graphics remained at the same level the entire time. Maybe this game used the minds dream state to help build graphics somehow? It was said that dreams did not have to be very detailed, because the mind would make the person believe in the detail that they saw. This had to be some kind of mainstream game. It didn't look like any of the people there noticed him yet.

Actually, those all were probably NPC's. They hadn't tried to greet him yet, and they were all dressed in the same kind of uniform, as in a school uniform. This was probably the tutorial for the game. He noticed a small pink haired girl coming towards him, her face red with shame. His face was stuck in some semblance of horror that he never noticed.

He rose to greet her, resigned to play through this tutorial until he could find a way to ALO. If he could. No, no, he couldn't think like that. He had to. He just had to. He couldn't do this again, to everyone that cared about him. To his poor sister, to Asuna. He couldn't betray Asuna by not trying his hardest to get out of this game.

It was the tutorial after all. Maybe the menu couldn't be accessed until it was done. Maybe he was wrong, maybe his Nerve Gear had simply connected to the wrong game. It shouldn't be possible, but maybe someone in the same area, who was using a similar connection...

The girl stood a little in front of him, opened her mouth, and promptly spewed a load of gibberish to him. He blinked, and exclaimed "What? What did you say?" The girl then looked at him confused, saying something else. Clearly mocking laughter rang out behind her, he could tell that much, though he couldn't tell what they were saying.

The girl shook with anger, her face red. Were this SAO, he was sure there would be steam coming from her ears, a result of the Anime like emotion system. She pulled him down to her level roughly, making him yelp and try to complain to her, only for her lips to make contact with his own.

His eyes widened, and he furiously backpedaled, trying to get away from her. Oh Asuna, forgive this shameful man for betraying you so!

The girl almost fell, and seemed to swear something at him furiously. He felt his face a little red. He might have said something back, were it not for the blinding pain that suddenly appeared from his hand. A strangled gasp came from his throat as he grabbed it, some instinct saying the pain might go away if he rubbed at it.

His entire body felt hot, and he collapsed, desperately trying to stay awake. He had dealt with pain before, and this was no different. This was a different form of pain though. He could feel his body heating up to painful levels, his hand steaming as characters foreign to him appeared on it.

He didn't notice the Professor, although he did not know this, go to him, and take an interest in the runes that appeared on his hand. He never noticed the girl, Louise, look a slight bit actually worried. He never noticed the students leave him alone. All he could focus on was the pain, pain which should not have been possible for a VR (Virtual Reality) game.

Finally, his body decided to collapse on its own. His last thought was _'Bastard Sugou turned the pain parameters off.'_

-The Line Breaks Are Back-

Eyes opened furiously, looking desperately around his surroundings. He saw himself in some room, and a pink haired girl near him. He sat up, seeing he was on a stack of hay. He blinked. The girl noticed he was awake and started to spew more gibberish at him. He responded in kind. "I have no idea what you're saying. Yeah, still nothing."

He layed there for a moment, while the girl spewed more things at him that he could not understand. He responded back a few times, but did not do much more. Finally, the girl seemed to get frustrated and start to go and grab something.

He stood, and saw the girl hold a stick to him, and his world went white. He collapsed, coughing, his ears ringing, as he realized she had just sent an explosion towards him. He was annoyed now. "Was that really necessary?"

The girls mouth opened. "I understood that!" She exclaimed, holding her stick, no, her wand tightly. He blinked. "I understood that too." He confirmed more calmly. The girl smiled widely at her apparent translation spell. The most violent one he could remember, not that he had played many games that started out like this. It was a memorable game already, though that didn't change the fact that he had something important to do.

"I suppose that you should know the name of your master. I am your master, Louise Francois le Blanc de la Valliere. What is your name commoner?" She scowled at him. Although he didn't really like her tone, he knew he had no choice in this. After all, what would he do if he refused to participate in this game? Would he go out beyond this tutorial building with no weapons, and probably die? Could he leave without finishing the tutorial?

Or perhaps if he frustrated this girl again, she would send explosions his way until he died. And he was sure that he would actually die for real, even in the real world. It wouldn't surprise him. He was sure Sugou had set his Nerve Gear to kill him if he died. Otherwise there would be no point. He was a little worried he couldn't see his health bar. It seemed Sugou wanted to kill him fast, although, theatrically too.

"My name is Kirito." He told her. He would set his player name as he always had, the first two characters of his last name, and the last character of his first name.

She scowled at him, and turned away. "I can't believe that I summoned a commoner as my familiar. I wanted something majestic, like a griffon, or a dragon, but a commoner! Mother must never learn of this." She then started to undress, which made him exclaim surprise.

Kirito was a bit confused at that. It seemed that maybe summoning a human was uncommon. If people went by the various mythical animals that she was taking about. Or, what was it she said, commoner? What did that mean? He was distracted from his thoughts a moment later.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" he half yelled, his voice squeaking slightly. The girl turned to him annoyed, and threw her clothes at his head. He yelped again. "Go wash those familiar. When you get back, you may sleep on that pile of hay" here she pointed to the pile he had woken up in, "and wake me at dawn." She demanded to him, pulling on her night clothing.

Face burning a little, he decided to go with it. He didn't want her to blast him again. He didn't know if this was a safe zone or not, even if it was a tutorial, and he didn't have any way to see his health bar. He didn't want to die so pathetically.

He took his time walking around, trying to find where he could get to washing. Kirito thought he would eventually find an NPC who would help him, and leave him with some sort of quest information. Still though, the attention payed to the NPC called Louise was very big. Her programming was quite good.

As well that there seemed to be no other players around...It was with a start that Kirito realized something. Great attention payed to the NPC's, to his surroundings, the amount of NPC's, this wasn't an VRMMORPG, this was a VRRPG.

"I suppose a few of those were made while I was stuck in Aincrad. They probably weren't too popular with ALO, but still." He muttered to himself, walking on. It made sense. Sugou expected him to die, alone. In a game where there were no other people. This way, it probably wouldn't really be that big of a deal.

It would just be some crazy guy from the SAO incident who used a Nerve Gear, which had fried his brain. Not that surprising to most people. Most would believe him to be foolish for putting the Nerve Gear on again. Including his friends. Huh. Maybe Sugou had planned this out more than he thought he had. He guessed that he would have to play the story in real time. It was different, playing a VRRPG. In some ways though, it was better.

There would be no competition for resources because he was the only player. He could grind all he wanted, gather all the best materials, all of it. He had to be able to play this game as fast as possible to get back. It was probably around the length of a normal RPG, there was no way it could be _that_ long. Not with all this data that was needed as a VRRPG, which wouldn't be sustained by many different game servers. Unless his thought about it using dream states to reduce necessary processing power and graphics for smaller memory and larger game play...

He was interrupted by his train of thought as a maid called out to him. "Ah, your the commoner that was summoned at the ritual today!" He blinked and looked at her. She blushed and looked down shyly at his gaze. There was that word again. Commoner.

She was a beautiful girl, around his age actually, and he couldn't help but notice the way her chest strained even through her maid outfit. She had black hair, and seemed familiar to him somehow, though he couldn't really figure out how.

"Yes, I am." Kirito responded wryly. "I'm Kirito. A pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself. The maid gasped and bowed a little. "I'm so sorry Mr. Kirito! I didn't mean to be rude, I'm Siesta. Nice to meet you!" She told him happily. It seemed that it was supposed to be a big deal that a commoner was summoned.

She looked at the clothing on his arms, and Kirito realized this was probably the NPC that was supposed to help him. "Ah, you wouldn't happen to know a place where I could get these clothes washed, would you?" He asked as politely as he could, knowing that an NPC might do something like refuse him until he tried again if he was rude. It had happened to him once, in SAO.

"Yes, of course! I'm free right now, so I'll even help you out!" She declared. He followed her to a place where they sat down and both started washing. Kirito took Siesta's lead, washing as she did. He talked a lot with her as they washed, and found her to be a pleasant person. Well, pleasantly programmed NPC. There was one thing that he had to ask though.

"Say Siesta?" He asked, foregoing honorifics as this was a game. She payed her attention to him. "Is it, uncommon for a, what was it, commoner to be summoned?" Siesta nodded cutely at him, her head bobbing up and down once fast.

"Yes Mr. Kirito, I wouldn't really know because I'm not a noble, but as I have heard all over the academy, it's quite rare. Or, should I say, it's never happened before." She told him, looking a bit lost.

Kirito's mind brought forth a few plots to mind when he heard that. Clearly he was special then, though he would have to be as the main character. His, master?, Louise was probably very important as well then, since she was the one who summoned him. As a spellcaster class, he supposed it was fortunate he was a swordsman. Unless, this game didn't have weapons, only spells.

"I see. Also, what exactly is the difference between a noble and a commoner?" He asked, rather awkwardly when he saw the stare that she affixed him with. It seemed this was common knowledge. Well, it was a game anyway, so there was no real reason to be embarrassed.

"You don't know?" Siesta asked hesitantly. When Kirito shook his head, she seemed to look a little confused, before she explained things to him. It seemed that in this game, only nobles could use magic. Commoners where everyone else, and they were ruled by the aristocrat class, which was the only class who could use magic, which it seemed was very strong here.

He wondered what kind of things he would be able to do here. It sounded interesting enough, one of the games he might have played back in the day, before the castle had enslaved them all.

Once finished, he thanked her profusely, taking note of the way her cheeks flushed a little as they departed. Well, it seemed this NPC might be the love interest to be found in this game. He was a little surprised at that, as it was usually a party member that would be the love interest. He supposed that even though she was a maid, this was a game, so she might be hiding some skills she would reveal when this building, this Academy, would probably be attacked.

As he went back to Louise's room, he took care to notice how there were two distinct moons. The view was rather breathtaking actually. The kind of thing that could only be replicated in a game. All the more stunning considering the game was so realistic, but that was VR games for you.

In Louise's room, he was surprised to see the harsh girl deep asleep, occasionally letting out a muffled "funya" out of her mouth. It was pretty cute really. He reached out and pinched her cheek, taking delight in the way she writhed a little.

He heard her say something, "Cattleya..." Sounded like a person's name. He would probably have to remember that. It seemed doing this was good, though he would have done it even if he hadn't gotten any kind of reaction.

Still, he once again found himself impressed by the level of dedication that had been payed to Louise's programming. Even when 'asleep' she was moving, letting out different sounds, it was really like watching a person sleep. Well, he had to get his rest.

He went to his stack of hay tired, and wishing that he could go home when he woke up, that somehow this was a dream. He knew it probably wasn't though, that he really was trapped in yet another death game. Despite the brave face that he had put on, his heart ached with the knowledge that his sister had waited for him and probably given up, and that she would find his body, once more trapped.

Even more than that, he almost felt tears go past his eyelids as he thought of his beloved Asuna. He had to save her, more than anything. He had to go back to Yui, and Asuna, and his sister. He had to go back, so he would clear this game as fast as he could.

He would play it like no one ever had, he would clear it in days if needed, and he would save Asuna, and he would reconcile with his sister. His daughter would be reunited with her mother. He swore it.

-The Line Breaks Are Back-

The next morning, when Kirito awoke, the sun was just starting to shine. He groaned, digging back into his pillow. Ever since SAO, he had loved to sleep, and the sun was not going to wake him up now. That was, until he remembered that he was supposed to wake the girl, Louise, up at dawn. He was quite honestly surprised that he had woken up at dawn.

He stood blearily, idly noticing that he had on his real life clothing, and he should ask his 'master' for some clothing and weapons. So, he should probably be nice to her, even if her attitude annoyed him. Still, she was small and slightly reminded him because of that, of his sister, when they were both younger.

He shook her awake, and she let loose a 'munya!' as she sat up rubbing her eyes. She panicked a little when she saw him. "W-what is a commoner doing here!" She started, pushing him away. He stood patiently, and she suddenly seemed to remember about the day before.

"Oh, it's just my familiar." She grumbled, standing. "Dress me familiar." She commanded, holding out her arms as if for him to get him to take them off. Kirito stared at her rather unimpressed, the memory of him deciding to be nice so that she would maybe buy him equipment gone.

"What, can't you dress yourself? Besides, I'm a guy, it isn't proper." Kirito responded back, crossing his arms and yawning. She growled, yes, growled at him.

"You aren't a guy, you're my familiar! It's expected of a servant to dress its master, and that's all you can really do! I already checked and I can't share senses with you or anything, and you can't collect items for me either!" She growled at me. It really was an experience, to be growled at. It was also odd. Very odd for someone to growl at someone else. Well, it was a game, so Kirito supposed it was only expected for there to be strange characters like this.

"Yeah, no. Dress yourself, I'm going back to bed." That being said, Kirito fell back onto his haystack. It was actually pretty comfortable, high quality hay. He was already falling asleep when the sound of a whip cracking caught his attention. He blearily opened one eye only for them to comically widen as he saw Louise, who had seemingly grown taller than him, with an evil look on her face.

Oh, did he mention she was cracking a whip? Screams were heard that morning as a man was given some, ahem, treatment.

Kirito weakly followed Louise to the dining hall, after being beaten and having dressed his 'master.' It was really an experience he did not wish to do again. It seemed like he was fine though, he supposed this was a safe area after all. The whip had hurt enough he was sure that even with his 18,500 HP (Hit Points) from SAO, he would have died.

When he got to the dining hall, he excitedly ran ahead of Louise, looking to all of the great food he could see. "Wow, this looks awesome!" He said, his mouth almost drooling. It had been a while since he had had cooking on Asuna's level. He couldn't wait for it, he couldn't-

"No familiar, your foods right there." Kirito was abruptly crushed as Louise pointed to some bread and soup on the ground. "And be grateful that I even allowed you to eat in here with the rest of us, you shouldn't even be able to do that much!" Louise emphasized this with a sharp nod of the head, and Kirito felt his spirit be crushed.

He knew he could hardly fight back. All these people who might attack him if what Louise said was true, as a thief. He had no weapons to fight with, so it wasn't really a good idea. With a watery filled gaze at the good food, he sat on the floor to eat his own meal.

Well, in the end it wasn't that bad. It was food for nobles after all, even if it was rather pitiful compared to everything else there. He had thought it would be a little like eating the plain bread when he had started in SAO.

After his 'master' finished, they left the dining hall to go to the gardens. Apparently, there was no classes that day because the second years were supposed to get familiar with their new familiars. As they walked out, Louise was quickly stopped by a girl that nearly made his eyes bulge out.

It was the red haired girl from the summoning, not that Kirito would remember. She laughed at Louise when she had her standing. There was another small girl, maybe about as big as Louise, with striking blue hair and glasses. She was wearing glasses, and carried what looked to be a shepherd's staff. She was staring at a book, ignoring the world, and Kirito had to fight the urge to hug her and call her imouto.

"Louise the Zero summoning a commoner, it really should be expected of you Louise." She commented, leaning forward to display her rather impressive assets. She leered at Kirito, which made him blush a little and turn away.

"Shut up Kirche! At least my familiar listens to me!" Louise declared, which made the red haired girl, Kirche, confused, as her own familiar was quite - "Flame! What are you doing?" She asked, stepping beside Louise to take a look.

Kirito was having troubles of his own as what seemed to be a huge lizard with a fire on it's tail try to assault him. "Hey, hey! What are you doing!" He complained, as Flame knocked him to the ground and licked his face all over.

"Kirche! Control your familiar, and stop him from attacking mine!" Louise yelled at her. Kirito's 'master' seemed to do that a lot, he might have been worried if he didn't know she was just an NPC.

Kirche blinked and put a finger to her cheek, completely ignoring Louise. "I'm impressed, Flame hasn't really been that nice to anyone but me so far." She commented, looking closer. Kirito made grabbing motions at his back for a second, but remembered he had no weapons and so sighed and decided to endure.

"Flame!" Kirche commanded. The fire lizard whined, but Kirche looked at him unimpressed. Flame whined a little, gave Kirito a last lick, and got off of him. Kirito stood up with a grumble as Kirche went up to him, pushing Louise aside with a yelp.

"So," Kirche whispered conspiratorially. "How much is Louise paying you to act as her familiar?" Louise started to turn a very unhealthy shade of red.

"I'm not paying him anything Kirche, you cow! He's my familiar!" She growled out. Kirito really was impressed with the growling. But, he had a question to answer.

"Actually, nothing, she kinda just forced me to do this." He whispered back to Kirche, loud enough for Louise to hear. Kirche laughed hard as Kirito went along with Kirche's game.

"Wow Louise, kidnapping the first commoner you can find and forcing him to be your familiar, for shame!" She laughed out, her chest doing some marvelous things, and causing a small crowd of guys to crowd around a little. Louise looked like she was about to kill Kirche.

"Well, whatever. See you later Louise, see you later _fa-mi-li-ar_." She whispered this last word seductively in Kirito's ear, causing him to gulp hard. She left as she had stopped them, laughing, and the girl Kirito had almost forgotten about, the blue haired one, followed her silently.

"Familiar! How dare you lie like that about me! And acting so cozy with a cow like Kirche, unforgivable!" Louise's voice had turned rather cold, and the crowd of people ran away, figuring what was coming next. Louise took her wand out, and Kirito gulped with different meaning this time as he realized what he had done.

"Fireball!" Louise chanted, and Kirito knew pain as an explosion took him in the face. He really regretted playing arounf with her. He really did.

-The Line Breaks Are Back-

Kirito was surprised that his face didn't show damage from the explosion earlier. As expected of a safe zone, which this academy really must be until the plot progressed.

He stood as Louise sat down gracefully, and not so gracefully told him, "Go get me some tea." He sighed as she ordered him about, seeing as there were plenty of maids there to get her tea. Oh well, there wasn't much Kirito could do about it.

He left, looking for some tea, when he found a girl he instantly remembered. Well, found was a strong word. Actually, he bumped into her and she dropped the cake she was serving. "Siesta!" He gasped, as he caught the cake she dropped.

She blushed as he gave it back to her. "Hello Mr. Kirito!" That girl was chipper as ever. It was some change from the girls he usually hung around with. Most of them weren't this upbeat.

"You can just call me Kirito you know." He told her, rubbing the back of his head. Siesta nodded with a smile. "Kirito then!"

Kirito then looked at the tray that she was carrying around. "Ah, would you like help with that?" He asked, pointing at the cart. Siesta's eyes sparkled a little.

"Oh my, but it's time for the nobles and their familiars to get to know each other better now isn't it? Shouldn't you be with Lady Valliere?" She asked, though, it almost seemed to Kirito like she was saying it as a formality, like she knew he would say no. Weird.

"Don't worry about it, we don't really get along that great, I'll leave her to cool off." Kirito responded. He looked over to where his master seemed to be quite bored, just looking at the sky.

"Okay then Kirito! If you would take this then..." It was something helping Siesta out. These nobles really didn't appreciate the help. They all just kind of grunted when they got their things, not a word of thanks or anything. It was very enlightening to him as to just how this game would work.

He assumed there would probably be a civil war or something, the commoners against the nobles, and maybe his master would guide one side or the other, as a special mage or something. At least, that was the conclusion he made from the various games he had played in the past. There was really no telling though, maybe this game had different endings, or any number of other things.

Kirito did get some entertainment as he saw a blonde pretty boy get slapped by two girls as one of them had gone to him, telling him to try her souffle. It seemed he had been two timing them. He idly thought that he recognized the boy, but wasn't sure.

He might have seen him the night before actually, but he had been so absorbed in his thoughts about the situation that he hadn't really noticed. Anyway, eventually it began to be dusk, and his irate master seemed to have fallen asleep at her table.

"Well then, I suppose it's time to go wake my master. It was nice talking to you Siesta, I'll see you around." Kirito commented to her. She happily agreed, telling him to come by and talk to her in the kitchen any time. It seemed she had taking a liking to him.

Maybe this game was like a galge mixed with RPG? Would he find other girls that would seem to like him like this? Kirito didn't particularly care about that though. He needed to get through the game, not try to clear a girl's route.

He took a tea pot that still had hot tea in it, and went to his master. He had never gotten it after all, she would probably appreciate it. "Master, I have your tea. It's time to get up." He commented to her, picking at her cheek.

"Cattleya?" She mumbled as she blearily opened her eyes, then they shot open when they say him. "Familiar! What took you so long, it's already this late! You were flirting with that maid weren't you, I saw you!" She growled at him again.

"I'm sorry, master, but you seemed tired, so I let you get some rest first. I have your tea now though." He cheerfully declared, holding the pot up to her. She slapped it out of his hands, and onto the ground. Kirito mourned at the lost tea. That had been so unnecessary. He had some trouble saying the word master to her.

"No dinner!" She ordered him, and Kirito's mouth opened in horror. He stood still as Louise left him behind to go to the dinner she had forbade him from. He stood like that for a little while, before Siesta came back, and saw him.

"Kirito? Are you okay?" She checked, concerned, putting a hand to his arm. He snapped out of it, blinking at her. "Ah, Siesta. Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that my master told me she wouldn't give me any dinner tonight, for not bringing her her tea sooner. I think I'll go sleep then. Bye Siesta." Kirito told her what happened, and tried to leave.

Siesta shook her head furiously and held him, making him stumble a bit. "Oh no, that just won't do at all! Come on, I'll take you to the kitchen, Marteu will give you some food!" Kirito's eyes watered, and he got on his knees as he thanked Siesta.

"Thank you for your kindness towards this one Siesta! Thank you!" He happily told her, making her face catch a hue of red. "No, no, it's okay, really! It is!" Siesta laughed, tugging him up.

Unnoticed to both of them, Louise looked at them from behind with a thoughtful look. Maybe it would be worth it to invest in a handmaiden if it would get her familiar to behave. She did have her allowance...Well, it could wait. She was hungry.

She left off to her dining hall, leaving the two to go to the kitchen.

-End Chapter 1-

**AN: So, about my usual chapter length, I think. Anyway, I hope at least some people liked it.**

**Before you say anything, yes, I know that there wasn't a Guiche fight. I didn't forget, I just decided that it was incredibly overused, and really, I had my doubts as to whether or not it would happen considering what I thought Kirito would do in this kind of situation.**

**As you can see, this is pretty different from a lot of Zero no Tsukaima fanfics already. It kinda surprised me as well. It can only get better from here.**

**This will probably go through the first season of the anime, with some references to the light novels here and there. This is supposed to be just a warm up story for me to get back to my main ones after all.**

**Well, not much else to say. I want to update this story about every other day. You can check on the progress of each chapter on my profile. I hope you liked this.**

**Ja ne!**


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